Lighting in commercial poultry houses is a vital factor in the breeding process. The quality and intensity of the light must be carefully adjusted during the various stages of the growing period, in order to achieve the best economic results. For example, suitable lighting can control nervousness and can reduce cannibalism among the birds.
The poultry industry includes two main sectors: broilers and layers, each sector having its own specific recommendations regarding lighting during the growing and egg production periods, respectively.
At present, lighting in poultry houses is usually based on incandescent lamps controlled by an electronic dimmer. The dimmer enables the growers to adjust the lighting intensity continuously from 0-100%. Some growers replaced the incandescent bulbs with ordinary fluorescent lamps, in order to save energy costs. However, dimming of such lamps requires the heating of individual electrodes in each lamp, which is costly. The use of CFL by poultry growers requires complicated and expensive dimmers; hence, the preference of most growers is to use conventional incandescent lamps.